The Incomparable 29th and the "River Clyde" Part 2

5. Khamsa. 10. Ashara. 100. Miya.

Naharak said Good morning.

Sa'a kam What time.

Sa'a waked One o'clock.

Maragsh Arabi I don't speak Arabic.

Kam tamanu What does it cost?

_April 5th._--This has been a day of exceptional heat, and curiously is the religious day of the Moslems called Shem-el-nessim, which in Arabic means "breathing the cool breeze". To-day all their shops are shut, and the whole day is spent in the country. What is celebrated is the first of the hot simoon winds which last fifty days, and apparently the day for their commencement is most accurately gauged.

We were all only too glad to carry out the written instructions we received some days ago, to keep under cover and try to sleep from noon to three o'clock, and if you cannot sleep yourself you must keep quiet and allow others to sleep. No bugle calls are allowed between these hours. All round us there has been haze through which the sun could not penetrate, but if he had the result would have been truly terrible. The dust has also been worse than usual and everything in my tent is grey. This is another of the plagues of Egypt. However, if rumour is true, we will soon depart from here for more active service.

After dark to-night we went out in search of men supposed to be wounded, six of our bearers acting as these and starting fifteen minutes before the stretcher bearers. The night was very dark and the pure white ground looked absolutely even, and some narrow escapes were made, several finding just in time that they were on the edge of a precipice. We had planned a few signals, but the princ.i.p.al lesson we were taught was that these were too few in number, and owing to this whole stretcher squads got lost.

We are still finding and having visits from new animals. To-day I had a dragon fly brought to me. I find I had seen several of these before but had mistaken them for locusts. The latter have much heavier bodies, but very similar wings. We have just had a visit from a huge beetle which we heard battering the tent, then it gradually got nearer, next hitting the tent pole and falling on the small table on which my candle flickers, the glare of which had attracted him. Kellas caught a moth and kept it for me. It was nothing much to look at, but it is the very first I have seen here. He also describes another moth he saw to-day as fluttering in front of a flower without alighting on it, but hovering and thrusting its proboscis into a long-tubed flower.

I once saw a similar moth at Torphins (this had been the Humming bird moth which I have seen hundreds of since then).

When different units get together in a camp the amount of thieving, technically called skirmishing, is beyond belief to anyone unaccustomed to camp life. At present we have two mules that do not belong to us. One wandered into our camp and a man who claimed it as belonging to his unit was told he had to prove his statement before he would be allowed to remove it, which he failed to do. To-day another was brought in tied to the tail-board of a wagon. It was seen wandering near the road between this and Alexandria, and the men in the wagon commandeered him at once, and here he will remain. I am a fairly good skirmisher myself, and when a wagon pole, for which I was responsible when unloading at the docks, did not turn up, I had two in its place in no time. We afterwards found that neither of them would fit any of our wagons. The cook has been handicapped in his work by having no table, but to-day he has one about 12 feet long which he tells me he got "over the road" last night when it was dark. Aga.s.siz, our transport officer, requests us to look out for a picket rope; he would like it two inches thick and about 100 feet long. Rather a big order but should not be beyond our combined efforts.

_April 6th._--Two Infantry Brigades, our Ambulance (89th) and the West Lancashire Ambulance (87th) were inspected by General Sir Ian Hamilton. Like ourselves he is an Aberdonian, being a member of the Hamilton family of Skene House. We had a very dusty day, all returning to camp quite grey.

In the afternoon I visited Alexandria with Stephen and Thomson and had tea at the Hotel Majestic in the Square of Mahomet Ali, the finest part of the town, then we flattened our noses against shop windows and bought a few odds and ends for home. The shops along the street to the left of the Bourse (Rue Sheref Pasha) were good and interesting, especially one that sold only Egyptian goods--Tawa's--where we made most of our purchases.

Then I chanced to come across Fiddes and Morris driving down this street when they hailed me and announced that they had just come from the Excelsior Hotel, the headquarters of the 29th Division, with the news that our bearers had to set off for the front before morning, and that I was one of the three officers who were to accompany them. We finished our shopping, and I went to Cook's office and wrote two post cards, then drove out to Mex, we all meeting round the mess table to hear the latest orders.

_April 7th._--Hung about all day in expectation of the promise from H.Q. that they would 'phone to us when it was decided at what hour we were to start. No message came during the day, then after 9 p.m. an officer came in from our Brigade H.Q., saying they were wondering at the boat "why the devil we were not on board". After a little 'phoning we discovered we had been overlooked, and we were ordered to march at once as our boat was to sail at 7 a.m. to-morrow. It was now past 10 p.m. and the men had to be roused from their tents and the mules yoked. We fell in, 124 men and 3 officers, and amidst loud cheers and handshakes we set off and reached the docks about 1.30. We were only allowed light equipment, the men their kitbags, waterbottles, haversacks, and coats rolled in bandolier fashion (i.e. full marching order) while the officers were supposed not to exceed the regulation 35 lbs. of baggage. Most of our equipment we left to come on with the tent subdivision and transport which are expected to sail on the 10th, in our old ship the "Marquette". Thus ended the first four miles of our journey, on this the last stage, while to-morrow we sail north, presumably for Gallipoli, but some say Smyrna, to join in what will be a most b.l.o.o.d.y affair--so we have been warned by Lord Kitchener who, in an address to our Infantry Battalions, has said that the work before us will be hard in the extreme, and that he had reserved our Infantry as the finest Battalions in the Army for this arduous job, and told them that they must be prepared to face great hardships and great sacrifices. In the 86th Brigade, to which our Ambulance is attached, we have four veteran Battalions, 2nd Royal Fusiliers, 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and the 1st Munster Fusiliers.

This Brigade was described by Sir Ian Hamilton as the flower of the British Army. All have served nine or ten years in India and all have smelt powder.

_April 8th._--At 10.45 a.m. the Cunard liner, the "Ausonia" (better known at present as B4) cast off, and with the help of two tugs we were soon out on the open sea. She had sailed from Avonmouth on March 16, the night on which we were booked to sail, and in the Bristol Channel some suspicious craft suddenly appeared. She at once altered her course and the two attendant torpedo boats gave chase to what was taken to be a German submarine. We had been told that the reason for our not sailing on the same date was that our boat was not in, but our captain afterwards told us he had been lying to for a whole week, but the presence of this submarine was the real reason.

The forces for the present expedition against Turkey have concentrated in Alexandria, and are at present over 100,000 strong, mostly British but also largely French. To-day the pioneers of this huge force have set sail, and as far as I can gather our boat was the second to go out. We are doing 14 knots and in two or three days should reach our journey's end. The day is beautiful and the Mediterranean its deepest blue.

I have been having a talk with the captain of the "Ausonia". He has only 64 tons of water on board, while he should have had ten times that amount. There are no pipes laid to the docks and the whole of the shipping has to depend on six water lighters which carry 60 tons each.

At present these are totally unable to supply the huge number of transports in Alexandria. The half of these are flying two flags beside each other to denote a shortage of water. In both the ground is red, the upper with red diagonal stripes while the lower has a yellow cross.

I find the cooking on the Cunard line very superior to what it was on the Red Star. Here it is as good as in a first-cla.s.s hotel.

_April 9th._--At 10 a.m. we were opposite rocky land to port. Some say this is the island of Rhodes, others Abydos, but not having a map of the southern part of the Archipelago I am unable to give an opinion.

About 11.30 we had land to starboard which a naval man a.s.sured me "was Rhodes right enough". He pointed to a camel-backed hill and said, "If there is a lighthouse opposite the middle of that, then I have no doubt about it". It was there sure enough when examined through a field gla.s.s.

A short time after leaving Alexandria I found by the compa.s.s we were steering 20 to 25 W. of N. while all this forenoon we have gone due N. I have been out on the deck watching an engineer unit preparing posts for barbed wire. At present they have poles 12 feet long; both ends are being pointed and a pencil mark is drawn round the middle of the pole. They can thus quickly make two pointed posts by means of a saw, but they expect to find the long poles useful before that happens. They will lash their shovels and other tools to these, and two men can carry them on their shoulders.

After lunch I had a conversation with my new friend, the captain of the "Ausonia". He tells me the island on our port side was neither Rhodes nor Abydos. The most interesting piece of news I got out of him was that our destination was Lemnos, but that he expected that it was merely as a rendezvous for the whole force, and was only 48 miles from Sedd-el-Bahr, on the south point of Gallipoli. His view is that we will land a short way north of that. He is against its being so far north as the Gulf of Saros and the narrow neck of land there. He thinks the preparations against our landing there would be too complete by now. He is in distress over his shortage of water as none is to be had in the small islands. This shortage of water got me into trouble with the O.C. the troops on board at general parade this morning. Many of the men had not shaved for two days, and some looked untidy and unwashed, but all put this down to their being denied water to slake their thirst, which must come before washing and shaving but the order was "see that it does not happen again". I advised one particularly hirsute chap to lower his shaving brush into the sea to-morrow at the end of a string.

It is a remarkable thing, noted and spoken about by us all, how seldom the thought of home enters our minds. I merely note this as a curious fact. There is no excitement about the "b.l.o.o.d.y errand"--as some one called it this morning--we are on, so that that is not the cause.

Perhaps it is just as well for us that we have worried so little.

There is far too much pity lavished on us when we go forth to war.

The officers are in a state of wild excitement to-night. Wishing to have a game of baccarat some of them asked Whyte and myself to join them, which we did willingly, feeling that it was possibly our last night in civilisation. I did not understand the game but ended 7s. to the good.

_April 10th._--Reached Lemnos about noon. We pa.s.sed numerous islands in the Archipelago, many small, and none showed signs of life except for an occasional lighthouse, but all the larger ones are inhabited, and grow currants, figs, and grapes in abundance.

Lemnos has a huge roadstead, open to the south, and at present protected at the two southern points by big guns and searchlights. A long arm forming the inner harbour extends to the right, and here a large number of ships is lying, eight battleships being among the number. We and another transport are anch.o.r.ed in the middle of the roadstead, awaiting the arrival of the other members of the expedition. It is said that over 100,000 will arrive from Egypt. The greatest warship afloat, and one that figured largely in the bombardment of the Dardanelles two months ago, the "Queen Elizabeth,"

lies a short way off on our starboard. The whole is shut in by steep hills, rough and rugged, some of which must be over 1000 feet high.

The land between these and the water looks well cultivated, the brilliant green of young crops being a relief to our eyes after our long voyage. We have seen nothing but sea, rocks, chalk and sand since March 18. I see no chance of getting ash.o.r.e, but nothing would delight me more than a scramble to the top of the highest peak away to the west.

I was asking a Royal Naval Officer on board if our occupying Lemnos involved any breach of neutrality, belonging, as it does, to Greece.

Although Greek, it has been leased by Turkey for years, and we have in reality seized it from the latter.

In the afternoon we entered the inner harbour and cast anchor in the middle of a number of transports. This inner harbour is more or less circular and is about three miles long and two wide.

_April 11th._--Several transports have arrived since we entered yesterday. When I looked through my port-hole at 6 o'clock this morning the surrounding country looked very fresh, and free from all haze, and the bright green of the crops and gra.s.s on the hill-sides would have done credit to old Ireland.

After lunch I met Lt.-Col. Rooth of the Dublins, who gave me some authentic information concerning the proposed military landing on Gallipoli. The covering party for the whole expedition is to be our 86th Brigade. The Munsters are in the S.S.T. "Caledonia," (B ii) lying alongside our ship. The Lancashires are there also. All these, along with our stretcher bearers, land together from cutters, and the date fixed is in all probability Wednesday, April 14, or the following day at latest. A very warm reception from the enemy on sh.o.r.e is expected, as I gather from the way the Dublin officers talk. It is also said that we will have to make a dash for it under the cover of night.

Practically due north from where we lie we can see the top of a snow-clad mountain which must be several thousand feet in height. Is this in Imbros? (Samothrace.)

A German Taube was seen over us to-day flying very high. Two hydroplanes went up from our fleet and scouted round us for several miles for over an hour. Some say another was seen very early in the morning.

_April 12th._--Orders were issued yesterday that we were to practice disembarking to-day in preparation for the landing on Gallipoli. The different units had to line up in the stations allotted to them, ours luckily being on the saloon deck where we will get use of the accommodation ladder instead of the rope ladder as first proposed.

Except for our rations, which had not been issued, we had on our full marching order loads--revolver, water-bottle, ammunition, haversack, field gla.s.ses, map case, Burberry and ground sheet. When we land we will have about 5 lbs. of rations in addition.

Several of the officers on our ship visited the "Queen Elizabeth"

yesterday and returned with very alarming reports, this boat having many times taken part in bombarding the Dardanelles Forts has a good idea of what awaits us. They say the whole of Gallipoli swarms with Turks, and the whole coast is covered with trenches and barbed wire entanglements 6 feet high. They talk as if it meant absolute annihilation of our small covering force of about 5000. The whole remainder of the Expeditionary Force, I presume, will lie out at sea till the coast is clear--should we succeed in clearing it, but it is very evident every man I have spoken to has practically no hope of ever returning. They expect our landing cutters to be well peppered with shot and sh.e.l.l, and in our practice to-day we had to appear with the straps of all our equipment outside our shoulder straps, and the ends of our belts free, ready to whip open and get rid of it at a moment's notice. I noticed that all our officers were unusually quiet and serious last night, while they discussed the situation no doubt. I went to bed at my usual hour and slept like a top.

The "Queen Elizabeth" went round to the Dardanelles to-day with the C.O.'s of the regiments which are to take part in the covering operations, looking for suitable places to disembark. We saw her return to harbour about 6 p.m., and we hear she was fired on.

Whyte, Morris, and I anxiously watched a four-masted transport enter the harbour this evening thinking it was possibly the "Marquette,"

but it proved to be A5, so that we have no chance of hearing from home before to-morrow. We want our mail before we set off again, as the next time will be for a long and indefinite period. All the transports are named "B," "A," or "C"--British, Australian, or Colonial. Ours the "Ausonia" is B4--no fewer than ninety transports lay in the harbour of Alexandria ready to carry our troops to Lemnos.

_April 13th._--I have just returned from a trip ash.o.r.e, the O.C. the troops granting me leave on request to do so with twenty-four of our men. We had three-quarters of an hour on land and had time to climb to the top of a small hill. What struck me most on the more level ground was the amount and stickiness of the mud, which was almost equal to our horse lines at Bedford. Every spot was covered with flowers, mostly of the vetch family. The corn crops were absolutely choked with a large, spiked, dark purple vetch, with a sprinkling of the common poppy (_Papaver Dubium_), and the ordinary charlock of the corn fields at home, and another species of this same family. I found two mallows, two or three thistles, one with a head like our Melancholy thistle, but the commonest was one with white lines on the leaf. There were numerous other flowers, so numerous that I thought this explained why so much of the honey used in Britain came from Greece and these islands. At the top of the hill we met a few shepherds tending sheep and cattle, many of the sheep wearing bells which kept up a constant tinkling. The men were very picturesque in their moccasin shoes, sheepskin waistcoats and heavy coats with hoods. On the way from sh.o.r.e with fourteen men at the six oars it was very nearly too much for us to reach our boat, the wind having risen suddenly. It must have taken us an hour to row about half a mile.

Orders have come to us to-day about our landing. We are warned to keep our equipment dry as we will be waist-deep in water on leaving the tow boats. Rumour had it yesterday that Thursday night had been definitely fixed, but this afternoon it is said that the landing is likely to take place to-morrow. The thought of this, in spite of the warm reception promised, does not frighten one in the very least: I can honestly say that it never once entered my head when on sh.o.r.e to-day. When it comes to the pinch one can face the inevitable with perfect coolness.

The following I have copied from the directory of the 29th Division, there being two alterations since it was published:--

86th Infantry Brigade.

Commander Brig.-General S.W. Hare.

Brig.-Major Capt. T.H.C. Frankland, R. Dub. Fus.

Staff. Capt. Capt. H.M. Farmer, Lanc. Fus.

2 Royal Fus. Lt.-Col. H.C.B. Newenham.